Watch: Ramaphosa’s plan for rescuing the economy
The president will unveil his much anticipated economic reconstruction and recovery plan on Thursday afternoon, during a virtual address to the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s eagerly anticipated economic rescue plan comes as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has plunged the country’s already floundering economy into an unprecedented crisis.
The president has said extraordinary measures are required to ensure a swift and sustainable economic recovery, and the plan is said to be the result of extensive deliberation between government and its social partners, including business and labour.
Watch Ramaphosa’s address here, courtesy of the SABC:
Earlier this week, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi told Parliament that the plan is expected to deal with the increase in unemployment, after 2.2million people lost their jobs in the second quarter.
Analysts and labour have, however, warned South Africans not to get their hopes up over Ramaphosa’s plan.
Read more: Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan a PR exercise – expert
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), the second biggest union federation after Cosatu, said the plan would be a “disappointment” and cautioned workers not to be deceived by the Ramaphosa’s rhetoric. Saftu said the workers and the poor must not accept it.
Meanwhile, analyst and finance senior lecturer at Wits Business School Dr Thanti Mthanti said the action is too late to help the economy, and that Ramaphosa could have acted six months ago, when businesses faced imminent closures and workers’ job losses as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.
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